By Our Reporter
Nepal, of late, has been witnessing 20 COVID-19 deaths on average on daily basis. The Ministry of Health and Population Tuesday reported 24 fatalities, taking the official death toll to 1361.
Intriguingly, the death rate has increased when the daily caseload has fallen almost by half after the Dashain festival. According to the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), the death rate has reached 0.61 per cent.
Before Dashain, daily cases were above 4,000 which have now dropped to below 2,000. However, daily tests have also fallen to 10,000 or less from above 15,000 before Dashain. The growing death rate is a matter of worry, and many of the fatalities have occurred when the patients staying in home isolation reach hospital at the eleventh hour.
The MoHP Tuesday recorded 1,790 new cases of COVID-19 with 24 deaths. The overall national tally of COVID-19 has reached 224,078 with 17,859 active cases.
However, the deaths and cases might be higher than the official record as people have stopped getting tested after the government started charging fees for PCR tests. Although the government lifted the controversial decision of charging fees in public hospitals, people look discouraged to get tested.
As the number of bodies of COVID-19 victims managed by Nepal Army is higher than the official deaths, the Health Ministry is suspected to hide the actual data of deaths.
Of the total official fatalities, Kathmandu district has 331 fatalities, Lalitpur 91 and Bhatapur 87 as of Tuesday.
State-wise, Bagmati has the highest number of fatalities at 668 followed by Lumbini with 187 reported deaths from coronavirus. Likewise, State 2 has 183 deaths, State 1 has 174, Gandaki 89, Sudurpaschim 37 Karnali reported 23 deaths from COVID -19 related health conditions.
However, one of the encouraging signs has been the growing recovery rates in Nepal. On Tuesday, the Ministry said that the recovery rate increased to 91.42 per cent, which is the second-highest recovery in South Asia after India where the recovery rate is around 93 per cent.
Active cases in Nepal have fallen to 17,859 from 40,000 before Dashain.
Of the total active cases, 393 are being treated in intensive care units across the country and 57 with ventilator support.
The MoHP on Tuesday recorded 1,790 new cases of COVID-19 and 2,791 recoveries.
While Kathmandu Valley has the highest daily deaths, it is in the top in new cases as well, almost 60 per cent of the total national new cases. The Kathmandu Valley recorded 947 new infections on Tuesday. And in the valley, Kathmandu district has more cases and deaths. As per the latest update, the number of confirmed cases in the valley has reached 104,682.
Of the 947 new cases of Tuesday, 692 cases were confirmed in Kathmandu, 190 in Lalitpur and 65 in Bhaktapur.
Similarly, according to the MoHP, a total of 1,681,299 PCR tests have been carried out across the country as of Tuesday and 10,843 of them were done on Tuesday.
Login to add a comment